Spokane critics Dan Webster and Nathan Weinbender give short movie reviews for nationally released films as well as those appearing at local film festivals.
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As the biopic Tony shows, movie attempts to capture the character of a real person all too often fall flat, Dan Webster says.
The End of Oak Street is a standard family-in-crisis movie with a fantastical dystopian conceit, Dan Webster says.
This weekend, the bizarre, brazenly stupid 2001 cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer returns to theaters. Nathan Weinbender says it’s a great excuse to see some brilliantly silly jokes and an all-star cast before they were stars.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day proves that a superhero movie can have a heart at its center, Dan Webster says.
You’ve probably never heard of the microbudget Burt, but Nathan Weinbender says this unassuming comedy about a musician and his estranged son is a buried treasure worth digging up. It’s now streaming on Kanopy.
Blue Heron tells the story of how one child’s emotional problems affects the other members of his family, Dan Webster says.
The Odyssey is less a depiction of the Homeric poem than it is a reflection of Christopher Nolan’s trademark themes, Dan Webster says.
Tuner is the story of a man with musical gifts and sensitive hearing who becomes a safe cracker. Nathan Weinbender says it’s a minor but entertaining neo-noir, and it’s now available as a digital rental.
The Invite is a powerful look at marriage that echoes one of the great works of American theater, Dan Webster says.
Livia Koh reads an original poem
Maddie’s Secret, from comedian John Early, is a hard film to classify. It plays like an homage to a 1980s TV movie about a woman with an eating disorder, and Nathan Weinbender says it’s a surprisingly thoughtful and sometimes absurd study of an often-mocked genre.
With his film Fiume o Morte! director Igor Berzinović uses a novel way of telling the history of a troubled city, Dan Webster says.
The Love That Remains is an offbeat drama about nature, fate and an Icelandic family coming apart at the seams. It’s now streaming on the Criterion Channel, and Nathan Weinbender says it’s weird, compelling and, if you can get on its level, deeply rewarding.
Who doesn’t like the Toy Story movies? The fifth installment of Pixar’s first franchise is now in theaters, and Nathan Weinbender says it’s an entertaining family adventure that mostly sticks to the same formula as its predecessors.
The Netflix documentary "Queen of Chess" tells the story of the first woman chess grandmaster, Hungary’s Judit Polgár, Dan Webster says.
The Marked Woman brings a Spanish sense of suspense to a subject taken straight from the headlines, Dan Webster says.
Unlike most Hollywood horror film “Backrooms” preys simply on our inherent fears of the unknown – until it doesn’t, Dan Webster says.
Paul Rudd plays a struggling musician whose work is stolen by a pop star in Power Ballad, the latest from Once director John Carney. Nathan Weinbender says the movie’s tune is a familiar one, but it’s extremely likeable nonetheless.
Nathan Weinbender reviews two new movies from important international directors: Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25, from Romania, and Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3, from Germany.
Blue Heron is director Sophy Romvari’s hushed, intimate memory of being an immigrant family in Canada and of her own brother’s fracturing mental health. Nathan Weinbender says it’s a potent study of time and loss, and it’s now playing at the Magic Lantern.
